I have a mild preference in solving this in pure JS, but if the jQuery version is simpler, then jQuery is fine too. Effectively the situation is like this

<span id="thisone">
The info I want
<span id="notthisone">
I don't want any of this nonsense
</span>
</span>

I effectively want to getThe info I want
but notThe info I want I don't want any of this nonsense
and I especially don't wantThe info I want <span id="notthisone"> I don't want any of this nonsense </span>
which is unfortunately what I am getting right now...